Articles
Presidential Address: The Joy of Geography
by Teresa L. Bulman, 9
Water Resource Planning in the Yakima River Basin: Development vs. Sustainability
by Christopher A. Kent, 27
Abstract: Water resource management in the agriculturally rich Yakima River Basin is at a crossroads. The vast majority of surface water withdrawals in the basin are used for irrigation, but current water supplies are frequently inadequate to meet this need. The recently proposed comprehensive Watershed Management Plan for the Yakima Basin relies on building major new water storage facilities, and $6.5 million in federal and state funding was secured in 2003 to study a huge new dam and reservoir. Yet local water users cannot pay for this $2 billion structure, and the national attitude toward water resource management is moving from a development paradigm to the recognition that water supplies have limits. Initiatives in the basin that are consistent with this latter approach include minimum instream flow targets, water use efficiency improvement programs, and making it easier to voluntarily transfer water rights. Future issues that have not yet been addressed will also affect water supply planning, but it is possible to set forth a recommended series of actions that can be taken now. The complex suite of water resource issues present in the Yakima Basin as of early 2004 should inform water resource management elsewhere in the West.
Geographic Patterns in U.S. Urban Inflation: 1990–2000
by Andreas Molin and Gordon F. Mulligan, 61
Abstract: Inflation is the rate at which the price of a basket of goods and services increases over time. This study investigates urban inflation in the U.S. during the time period 1990–2000. Data collected by local chamber of commerce offices are analyzed for 56 goods and services across 171 cities in the 48 lower states. These ACCRA data are noted for their geographic coverage, although questions arise about their acquisition and aggregation. Six different categories of goods and services are highlighted: groceries, housing, utilities, transportation, health, and miscellaneous. During the 1990s, overall prices increased by 35.8 percent (across all 171 cities), ranging between 32.2 percent (7 cities) in the Mid-Atlantic states and 41.0 percent (21 cities) in the West North Central states. Even more extreme geographic variation occurred in several of the six categories of goods and services (e.g., utilities). Multivariate techniques are used to identify the latent patterns of inflation and to cluster cities together according to their similarity in these latent patterns. Ten clusters of cities are identified for purposes of discussion. Regional patterns in urban inflation are very apparent; for example, in one cluster of 20 cities, half of the cities are found in the Pacific states.
Before “Surfurbia”: The Development of the South Bay Beach Cities through the 1930s
by Ronald A. Davidson, 80
Abstract: Few landscapes have been more trivialized for global consumption than the southern California beach. “Baywatch,” “Beach Blanket Bingo,” and Rayner Banham’s coinage of the term “Surfurbia” are among the myriad examples of culture products that depict the shore as a homogeneous fun space lacking historical and cultural complexity. However, the South Bay communities from El Segundo to Torrance (essentially the cities that Banham called “Surfurbia”) have long histories, examination of which reveals the richness and complexity of their geographies. The different cities emerged under the influence of a variety of developmental forces so that, despite the monolithic image of “Surfurbia,” the rise of the South Bay is in fact many separate, incompatible stories.
The Department of Geography at the University of California, Santa Barbara: History, Curriculum, and Pedagogy
by Keith C. Clarke and Susanna R. Baumgart, 95
Abstract: While the Association of American Geographers celebrates its 100th anniversary in 2004, the Department of Geography at the University of California, Santa Barbara, celebrates its 30th. This paper is a summary of the history of the department, as gleaned from written records and interviews with many of the protagonists. Included is a discussion of the curricula for the BA, BS, MA, and PhD programs, with special attention paid to the pedagogy of approach. The paper concludes with an examination of the highlights of the department’s mission statement, which shows the common departmental philosophy toward the discipline and the highly interdisciplinary treatment of geography at UCSB.
President’s Plenary Session: Portrait of Portland: History, Place, Region
by Teresa Bulman, 114
Maintaining Eden: John Charles Olmsted and the Portland Park System
by Chet Orloff, 114
Urbanism and Environment in Portland’s Sense of Place
by Carl Abbott, 120
Portland at a Crossroads: Sustaining the Livable City
by Judy Walton, 128
Book Reviews
Geza Szurovy, The Art of the Airways, 141
Reviewed by James Craine
Terence Young, Building San Francisco’s Parks, 1850–1930, 146
Reviewed by Shawna J. Dark
Philip L. Jackson and A. Jon Kimerling, Editors, Atlas of the Pacific Northwest, Ninth Edition, 149
Reviewed by Antonia Hussey
Report on the Sixty-sixth Annual Meeting, 151 (PDF, 36K)
APCG Distinguished Service Award, 154 (PDF, 28K)
APCG Student Paper Award Winners, 155 (PDF, 24K)
Resolutions of the Sixty-sixth Annual Meeting, 156 (PDF, 44K)
Editorial Notes, 161 (PDF, 32K)